This invention relates to structures for receiving and storing four sides spent fuel elements, or fuel rods, in nuclear power plants.
Such structures include one, and more generally a plurality of chambers, which are square in cross-section. Each of said chambers is intended to receive and store a spent fuel element.
When such a structure is subjected to horizontal forces, as may occur during earthquakes, violent collisions may occur between the chamber wall and the fuel element which the chamber houses. To avoid such collisions, storage devices for spent fuel elements are provided with means for preventing relative movements between the walls of a storage chamber and a fuel element stored therein.
The present invention relates to a store device of the above description which is provided with simple and cost-effective means for precluding relative movements between the walls of a storage chamber and a spent fuel element that is stored in it.